This Week in London – Botticelli at the V&A; Shakespeare recalled in free sound and light show; and, ‘punk’ captured on film…

March 3, 2016

• A major new exhibition opening at the V&A this Saturday will feature more than 150 works from around the world in a display exploring how artists and designers have responded to the artistic legacy of Botticelli. Italian artist Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) was largely forgotten for more than 300 years after his death but is now widely recognised as one of the greatest artists of all time. Botticelli Reimagined features painting, fashion, film, drawing, photography, tapestry, sculpture and print with works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris, René Magritte, Elsa Schiaparelli, Andy Warhol and Cindy Sherman. The exhibition is divided into three sections: ‘Global, Modern, Contemporary’, ‘Rediscovery’, and ‘Botticelli in his own Time’. Runs until 3rd July. Admission charge applies. For more, see www.vam.ac.uk/Botticelli. PICTURE: Venus, after Botticelli by Yin Xin (2008). Private collection, courtesy Duhamel Fine Art, Paris. (Name of artist corrected)

• The historic facade of Guildhall in the City of London will become a canvas for a free son et lumiére show on Friday and Saturday nights to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. The display, which runs on a 20 minute loop between 6.45pm and 8.45pm, will feature period images and music from the City’s extensive archives and use 3D projection mapping techniques to transform the Dance Porch of the 15th century building. The Guildhall Art Gallery will be open from 6pm to 9pm and, as well as allowing people to view a property deed for a house in Blackfriars which was signed by the Bard, will feature a pop-up bar with a Shakespeare-themed cocktail. For more on this and other events, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/shakespeare400.

• The 40th anniversary of punk is the subject of a new photographic exhibition drawn from the archives of world renowned music photographer and rockarchive.com founder Jill Furmanovsky which opened at the City of London Corporation’s Barbican Music Library this week.Chunk of Punk, which runs until 28th April, features many of Furmanovsky’s well-known punk-related images as well as hitherto unseen pictures with The Ramones, Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Blondie, The Undertones, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Blondie and Iggy Pop among the bands featured. The exhibition forms part of Punk.London: 40 Years of Subversive Culture. For more, see www.cityoflondon.gov.uk.